In August, 2006, S/V Toketie set out from Victoria, British Columbia and sailed South to Mexico, on to French Polynesia, Niue and Tonga following the well beaten path known as the 'coconut run' to New Zealand. In 2009 we sailed N to Fiji then on to New Caledonia en route to Australia! Toketie is now back home in British Columbia after a long passage via the N Pacific Ocean.

Friday, July 01, 2011

Cockatoo perch and Canada Day eh!

Well, the cockatoos were beginning to perch in our rigging....not that we mind them but they don't seem to be housetrained and although we love their raucous language, we have no idea what they are saying....undoubtedly they just saw the Canadian flag and were visiting to remind us of the special day!

But when the birds start thinking you are part of the landscape, it is a subtle hint that it is time to move on....so move on we did...after coffee of course and yoghurt!

Exiting the inlet was interesting, if only to remind us how sheltered we were while hiding in it....the seas were running on the beam...that's the side of the boat for you laypersons....and big enough that every now and then one would break all over us! Fortunately we were sheltering in our canvas covered cockpit and just had to hang on! Anyone without sealegs would likely have been 'tossing their cookies'!!

But we smashed our way back to Airlie Beach, civilization of sorts, and enjoyed a long walk down tourist strip, filled our jerry cans with water and picked up 2 liters of drinkable wine!

Conclusion: Toketie needs an autopilot (to steer the boat when there is no wind or too much from the wrong direction) and we have to make reefing a simpler and safer exercise.....